However during this suppression...

However during this suppression, a man rose, who was determined to challenge the authorities and made himself busy with the task of building mosques inspiring those around him. Soon the authorities came to know about this and he was sentenced to a ten years imprisonment. However this man never gave up and while he was serving his sentence, he influenced his friends who used to come to visit him to form a committee that would supervise the activities involved in the construction of mosques.

He was so sincere that he inspired his cellmates to start building mosques once they completed their term in prison. It is recorded that he was able to build tens of thousands of mosques even in this period of constraint and oppression. What was the secret of this man? It is said that whenever a mosque’s construction would be completed, a collection box was put at the disposal of the worshippers of that mosque to start contributing towards the building of yet another mosque.

Imam Ali (a.s.) says: “a man flies with his efforts, the way a bird flies with its wings” . The Mosque Which Is Called: ‘As If I Have Eaten And Drunk’ Sayyid Khatib Jawad Shabber relates from Sheikh Muhammad Husayn Kaashiful Ghitaa that he saw a mosque with a strange name in Turkey. It was called ‘As If I Have Eaten And Drunk’. The Sheikh was fascinated by this strange title and wished to know the reason behind this name. So he questioned the Imam of the mosque.

The Imam said that the mosque in question was in a state of ruins and needed urgent repairs. However, when he approached the wealthy merchants of the city they refused to help, giving various excuses. He thus decided to take out the expense from his personal income. The way he did this was by economizing just the way we save up for any worldly item we dearly wish for. He loved travelling and for some time he stopped travelling and saved the money for the mosque.

He even asked his children to limit their expenses and make do with the clothes they had for that year. He in other words lowered his standards of eating and clothing and budgeted his expenses. Every time he felt the urge of good food and clothes he consoled his heart that his share was waiting for him in the Hereafter. In this way he managed to repair the mosque.

To inspire others to sacrifice their luxuries even for a short time in order to do an act of charity, he named the mosque ‘As If I Had Eaten And Drunk’[^5].